A Sarasota restaurateur has died, shortly after opening a highly anticipated new restaurant that he spent about a year renovating.
Samuel Ray, who co-owned Tsunami Sushi & Hibachi Grill in Lakewood Ranch and previously in downtown Sarasota, as well as the recently opened Hanami Sushi Cocktails & Grill in the Rosemary District, has died. He was 34. Ray co-owned the businesses with Jeffrey Karasawa and Jason Klamson.
Already well-known in the Sarasota restaurant scene for Tsunami, Ray provided a public face for Hanami through video updates posted to social media during roughly a year’s worth of renovations to the space…